Celtic project signings and importance of Shaun Maloney’s new role

The all too familiar former player approach, sees Shaun replacing another former player – and qualified coach – who held the role for the briefest of times before returning to a job in keeping with his coaching qualifications – namely coaching – after Darren O’Dea, exchanged his company laptop and phone to get back out on the grass, where his heart was all along.

Maloney’s role isn’t expected to be any different from O’Dea’s, but hopefully he’s not taking this role with a view to maintaining his profile, until a League 2 job comes up in England, or Dundee realise Stephen Pressley is as good a manager as he has been up to this point in his career.

Maloney is here supposedly to shape the future of our young un’s and project players – those young hopefuls signed with an eye on tomorrow, but too often lost in the fog of the Parkhead loan system or left to gather dust on Lennoxtown’s B-list.

Now, we’re told Maloney’s remit is crystal – talent development, player progression, bridging that yawning gap between development squad and first team. All good, all encouraging – but forgive the cynicism if some of us are still stinging from that Summer of Damn (it) shopping spree of 2023.

2023 ended up being a scattergun shambles. Kwon, Tilio, Holm, Lagerbielke – a recruitment policy that felt less like future-proofing and more like footballing tombola. And now? We’re practically pleading with clubs to take some of them off our hands. That’s not ‘developing assets’; that’s clearing deadwood before it roots itself into the wage bill still further.

Five-year contracts are great when you are flogging Matt O’Riley and the security of that long contract maximises our bargaining position. I guess we must accept the downside is players who don’t cut it, or we struggle with suitable loan placements, hang around longer than is ideal, given the wages on offer elsewhere is unlikely to match those in their Celtic contracts

Which brings us to this year’s expected project arrivals, Hayto Inamura and Callum Osmand, seemingly snapped up already this summer, though still to be confirmed by the club. Promising? I think they just might be.

But promise needs a plan. Are they the next Frimpong via Manchester City, or destined for the next iteration of lower league football purgatory with no pathway back?

That’s where Maloney’s return needs to matter. If this appointment is more than just another ex-player comfort blanket, then we should be seeing a structure emerge. These boys need a roadmap, not just a Ryanair ticket to the Eredivisie, or an all-day bus-ticket to Queens Park. Loans need to be strategic – the right club, right system, real game time. Not just out of sight, out of mind.

Because here’s the rub. If Celtic really want to compete at Champions League level regularly, then over the next couple of seasons we need to win a lot of games thanks to the club co-efficient being so poor. Not just qualify, that’s not likely to cut it, not if we want to avoid a series of play-off encounters to reach the golden ticket of Champions League football. We all have the scar tissue from past experiences of that.

The first team needs to be populated with plug in and play players, yes, but also homegrown stars, alongside cheaper purchased young projects who get real minutes under their belt.

Those players will need a hotline back to Shaun, who can ensure he’s all across their development arc, managing the pitfalls, the upward trajectories, the personal issues, and all with the listening ear of a guy who has been where they are, experienced their journey, and readied himself for the first team call.

Maloney could be the man to shape that. He’s got the coaching pedigree, he knows the club, and if given the power, he might just stop us stockpiling projects. But he also needs to hang around long enough to formulate and implement a plan, build up the contacts and maintain those relationships, at suitable clubs who need young talents, who will play those talents, and who play in a style and environment that resembles the one they’ll hopefully return to at Celtic.

The success or failure of this pathway will be measured in whether Inamura, Osmand and whoever else comes through that revolving recruitment door this summer are playing in the first team in 12 months, or 24 months’ time – or someone else’s.

On paper Shaun Maloney is the ideal appointment and is far from the usual ‘Jobs for The Bhoys’. But he needs to be committed to this new role, and for the long haul.

Because, to Celtic, this position is now vital. It’s not a chair to relax into until the phone rings with a desperate, relegation threatened manager on the other end offering a return to management.

Help raise funds for Celtic Youth Academy by playing the Celtic Pools Weekly Lottery and you could win up to £25,000. The lottery is £1 per week. Click on image above to join.